Gateway
by Commander Kelec
Summary: In 2020 the Stargate program has gone public and there is a fragile alliance between Earth, the UNSC, the Free Jaffa and the Sword of Sanghelios. Chaos is ripping at the galaxy and it wouldn't take much to break.
1. New Beginnings Part 1

Gateway

Chapter 1 New Beginnings Part 1

 **18** **th** **June 2020**

 **Unclaimed space, Odessa system**

 **Cloaked Al'kesh**

She imagined how good it would feel to destroy the bastardly bucket of titanium. Syae was leaning over the chair of the pilot and looked out the front viewport at the large Carrier beneath them. The white seven hundred meter beast seemed a pretty sight surrounded by the empty void, safe for a few support ships of Advent origins.

"How did Advent receive a Poseidon class Carrier?" Her fellow Jaffa in the pilot seat asked his copilot.

The Jaffa in the seat beside him shook his head.

"I do not know. Captured in battle perhaps?"

"I would say they stole the blueprints and built their own," Syae added. "Focus on the task at hand either way."

"Yes Councilor," the first acknowledged.

She straightened, still holding onto the top of the chair. She moved her right hand and shoved some strains of her midnight black hair out of the way. She took a deep breath. There was eleven Al'kesh' out there waiting for her word, her command to begin.

"The others should be in position." She placed a firm hand on the pilot's pauldron. "Decloak and fire on the Carrier's hyperdrive. Transmit orders to launch to the task force."

"Understood."

Our Al'kesh decloaked and quickly activated shields before launching a barrage towards the hyperdrive to disable it and cut off their escape route. A few short seconds followed before the other Goa'uld bombers decloaked and targeted the other ships. The black coated Frigates and Light Cruisers saw their hyperdrives and a few their shields disabled during the opening barrage.

"The Carrier's hyperdrive and shields are offline," the Jaffa to my right informed me. Our ship shook slightly. "They are opening fire." He had a deep and guttural voice.

Syae gripped onto the pilot chair tighter with her pale hands as the ship shook again after two executive hits.

"Take evasive action, target their weapons," she commanded.

On the screen she read that their shields was down to eighty percent and dropping with every impact. The ship shook heavily and she saw an Al'kesh being ripped apart as their shields failed. On our end a well-placed plasma charge destroyed an Archer Missile Pod and ripped at the titanium hull. Our two Staff cannons blasted at another Missile pod and destroyed it just as three missiles impacted our shields.

"Hyperspace windows opening," she was alerted.

"Good of them to join us," she remarked.

A small group of ships jumped in from their positions out of sight of the Advent ships. Three Jaffa Ha'taks followed by a Tau'ri Daedalus class Battlecruiser, six UNSC Strident class Frigates and an Autumn class Cruiser and an Epoch class Heavy Carrier. The Carrier launched fighters and bombers as all the ships opened up a barrage and the Ha'taks launched a Squadron of Death Gliders each.

"Our shields are down to fifty-six percent."

"Make a run across the bow and fire everything we have, order the closest Al'keshs to follow," Syae decided.

Three Al'keshs swept in across the Carrier and unleashed their plasma charges and half a dozen burst from their Staff Cannons. A well-aimed couple of missiles struck home at the last Al'kesh and it lost control and crashed into the Carrier. The impact tore through the white upper hull and opened a large section to space and destroyed several of their system. To top it off over fifty Archer missiles hit home from the Epoch class Carrier, tearing the aft section to pieces. After three months of searching Syae could sigh in relief. The dreaded Carrier's ambushes and lightning raids was over. The Carrier was finished off by internal explosions.

"Carrier is dead in space," was announced to Syae.

A beam from the Tau'ri Battlecruiser ripped through an Advent Frigate and finished it in one shot. The Epoch class Carrier fired a MAC slug and in ripped into a Cruiser at high velocity. It tore through the bridge and left the vessel dead in space. It was finished off by a pair of Strident Frigates. Two of the Frigates was unlucky enough to have a Ha'tak barrage leveled onto them and with their shields offline they were quickly turned to debris.

As the final enemy ship was destroyed Syae grinned and congratulated her fellow Jaffa. She was happy she had taken personal command of the stealth portion of the operation.

"Incoming transmission from the _UNSC Furious Deer_ Councilor."

"Let me see it."

The Vice Admiral commanding the UNSC Carrier appeared in front of me. The broad shouldered man had a small smile on his face as he sat in a command chair on his bridge.

"Tak Mal Tiak Admiral Collins."

"Councilor Syae. I have to compliment you on the opening barrage. It will take Advent a lot of resources to rebuilt a Carrier," he stated. "I am sorry about the two Al'keshs. I lost three fighters but that's all. Your Motherships lost four Death Gliders and the _UES Sevastopol_ took no casualties."

"A small price to pay to destroy a Squadron and between one and two thousand Advent fatalities," she said certainly.

He looked at a screen, she assumed, to his left.

"I am patching in Lieutenant Colonel Malenkov." After a moment the screen split and Syae's eyes landed on the leader of the Tau'ri vessel. He had thin blond hair, a tall and skinny appearance and had a green camouflage jacket and cargo pants. There was a little flag on his right chest. One layer of white, one of blue beneath and a layer of red on the bottom.

"Vice Admiral, Councilor, I'd say that should make the Bureaucrats back home happy. For a while," he said. His voice had an accent, but Syae didn't know where on the Tau'ri homeworld he came from. She had seen the flag numerous times before and knew it was one of the larger nation states at least.

"Indeed. That Asgard beam weapon in as impressive as ever," Syae complimented him.

He nodded and smiled.

"Gentlemen," Admiral Collins stated, getting their attention. "There is a small concern I'd like to share with you, well…a question at least. One of the Light Cruisers, it was an old Halcyon. They were decommissioned almost ten years ago. Most deconstructed for parts to newer models. The Autumn specifically. How Advent managed to acquire one, I do not know. I must report to HIGHCOM and they can look into it."

With a frown on his face Malenkov spoke, "As intriguing as that is, it could be good news too. If this ship is an elderly model it doesn't make much sense for them to use it in battle unless they had to. If they are starting to fall back on old starships it might mean they're running low on them."

"Could be," Collins agreed. "Could also mean they have allies in some scrapyard on Earth. Let's report in our success and wait for orders." He suggested. Malenkov and Syae nodded and he terminated the channel.

Syae gave the pilot a pat on the shoulder, "I'll return to the Ha'taks." She walked back further into the Al'kesh and activated the ring platform to transport.

 **18** **th** **June 2558**

 **United Nations Space Command space, Sol system, Planet Earth**

 **City of Sidney, HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6**

Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood found himself averting a sigh as President Redfield's advisor, a former major general-politician named Heller, followed up the briefing on the Free Jaffas political fraction with a statement that this could be an opportunity to establish the UNSC as the top dog and push their Jaffa allies down a peg. Despite how many times Redfield had rejected the idea of forcefully incorporating primitive worlds into the UNSC. Naturally he didn't mentioned forcing anyone to join, but Hood saw the underlying meaning of his words. It was like reading a children's book for him. He still wondered why Redfield kept him around. He understood why she wanted people that wouldn't be yes-men, but why Heller?

"Can I remind you that three planets have already joined the UNSC," Hood reminded. The three in question had joined in the last two years for the protection of a strong battle hardened military. All three was basically within UNSC borders already and they had all joined willingly, making the first step themselves. Redfield had been very 'hands off' on the situation. "The reason we don't try to convince all these primitive societies to join us remains the same Mister Heller." He emphasized the fact that Heller was now a civilian. He hadn't resigned for injury or retirement, but for a political career,

"We don't want to antagonize our allies and fly around the galaxy expanding our territory will quickly turned key allies against us," Hood told Heller; and anyone that saw his point of view as valid. "The former Covenant factions is still fighting and its as violent as ever. The Jaffa and Earth is key allies since our assets and resources are stretched thin."

Not to mention that he didn't want the UNSC to turn into a fascist expansionist state. While he recognized that he had basically been a dictator five years back, it was a necessary evil to ensure mankind's survival in the genocidal Human-Covenant War.

"No one is suggesting that we annex inhabited bordering planets," young President Francesca Redfield stressed, giving Heller a glare. "Our people has no wish for conquests. Mr Heller, our relations with the Free Jaffa Nation is already strained, we will not provoke further divide."

Hood noticed she threw a look at Albert Forsberg; head of the Office of Naval Intelligence, ONI for short. Forsberg made no show of acknowledgement. Another man Hood never liked, though he certainly did his job during the wars last decade. He always felt a certain discomfort over how he operated, and ONI as a whole. But President Redfield had done her best to quell ONI somewhat and force them back into line, although she could only do so much. A lot depended on ONI cooperating. Concerning Forsberg; Hood was pretty sure he knew what kind of future he wanted, and that scared him. He would pick Heller over Forsberg any day.

"Let us keep moving," Redfield stated firmly, looking around at everyone at the table. "I am formally informing you that Earth's International Oversight Committee has authorized eleven additional scientists to join our joint science team on _Destiny_. They arrived some hours ago."

 _Destiny_ was an Ancient ship that had returned to this galaxy just six months ago. An SGC expedition had been trapped hundreds or thousands of galaxies away without a way home. However, Hood remembered reading that they had discovered a sort of Ancient hyperdrive. One that allowed virtually instant travel. Atlantis-which now rested on one of Earth's oceans-had another newer model at its possession. They had yet to be willing to share the details of this instant travel, though they had told them it was extremely dangerous. He suspected they might share it one day when they could safely duplicate it themselves, like they shared their hyperdrive technology, leaving slipspace travel obsolete for the UNSC. Although, he had noted that their hyperspace was based on the old Goa'uld models and not the Asgard designs.

Forsberg leaned forward, frowning. It meant he wasn't aware of it. Hood smiled amused. It was Redfield's way of telling him she didn't want any ONI spooks supplanting the scientists. One Oni officer was enough. One of her small steps to rein in ONI. With the war with the Covenant over since five years back this was possible. He would have tried himself if the UNSCs survival hadn't been at stake. He also noticed the tiniest hint of a smile on Redfield's lips. Any discomfort or the like on the Director's part was surely a delight for her. She was good at hiding it but he knew she hated ONI with a passion for a number of reasons.

"The fact we have a joint science mission on this Ancient ship is at least progress in relations between our peoples," head of the army; General Nicolas Strauss stated with a positive tone.

"I agree completely," the President's second advisor declared. His name was William Smith and to Hood's somewhat pleasure he was the opposite of Heller. He was a man of peace, almost too much so. Hood thought that the man was on the verge of becoming an isolationist. The man came close to lacking a spine and was barely willing to take military action in self-defense. Still, he was a man of the people.

"Shall we continue with discussing Advent?" Mr Heller suggested.

Director Forsberg shifted slightly and looked to a Japanese young woman to his right. Hood's eyes traveled to her. She was in her early thirties, wore a fancy black ONI uniform with a Commander's insignia on her color. She had her long raven hair tied in a bun with some locks having fallen out. Without missing a beat of the politics in the background over everything said in this room she turned her eyes forward. Her natural pale blue right eye and her blue glowing cybernetic left eye steered to the President and waited patiently for approval. She waited a moment before nodding her approval.

The young commander read points from a datapad she held.

"Vice Admiral Jack Collins and the Joint Task Force eliminated the Advent Carrier pack that had been raiding Jaffa and UNSC worlds for the previous six months," she announced with a neutral voice. She maintained eye contact with every one of us at some point. Most of all Hood, the President and Forsberg, "Overall fatalities was minimal and the Poseidon Class Carrier was destroyed with all hands, the support ships mostly suffered the same fate but an over sixty was captured on board disabled ships."

Forsberg spoke up.

"One of the enemy ships was an old Halcyon."

It caused a few frowns around the table. Before anyone could speak up Hood did so.

"Most likely the took it years ago when they formed Advent and although the ship is old, it can still put up a fight. Despite it being out of date."

The President nodded.

"That seems the most likely," she agreed. "Continue Commander Takahashi."

"Yes ma'am," the commander replied promptly, as voice as neutral as previously. "Tok'ra informed us through New Earth-" Hood thought that was an interesting term. New Earth. Since there was, for god knows what reason, two Earths almost identical they referred to the other Earth as just that. they referred to them as the UNSC or even UEG but they had no official interplanetary designation, yet. Technically they could be referred to as United Earth since their official interplanetary forces was the Coalition Armed Forces, or Tau'ri. Which was what they were informally known as around the galaxy.

"-that intelligence suggest first; a massive offensive to come, and second; talks between Advent and the Lucian Alliance."

Hood snorted, "Terrorists and criminals together. No big surprise I think."

The head of the Marine Corps and head of the Air Force both nodded in silent agreement.

"All the same," Hood said and placed his wrinkled hands on the table. "If Advent becomes supplies by the Lucian Alliance it will make them a far bigger threat."

"The can already supply themselves with weapons, food and medical supplies and have even secret shipyards somewhere in the Milky Way," Forsberg stated, almost growling. "Until my operatives track them down we cannot halt their production." Hood knew he was frustrated by ONIs inability to find and even deal with Advent on their own, which they thought they could five years ago.

"Give me options," Redfield told them.

"A full scale assault on the Lucian Alliance would quell any cooperation," Heller suggested. "Combined ground and fleet actions."

Hood actually rolled his eyes. He didn't entirely disagree, but like always he went too far.

"My voters do not want all-out war Mr Heller," Redfield told him. Her gaze narrowed slightly. "I will have options that won't kill our people by the tens of thousands."

Hood cleared his throat.

"There is a more tempered way forward." He got her full attention. "I believe we need to put additional assets into hunting down Advent. If we keep them running we will eventually find their bases. They'll make a mistake. It is all a matter of time with a perfect combination of military might and spooks. I can scramble enough fleet assets for attacks on Lucian Alliance worlds and assets, but it is immensely important that, New Earth and Free Jaffa assets participate."

"We don't need the Jaffa or their xeno buddies," Heller stated bluntly. He clearly didn't like the idea one bit. Perhaps because Hood shot his down, or it was simply his xenophobia. It was a problem in the UNSC.

"Mr Heller, they are our allies," Redfield told him.

"Combined attacks will show that we are united and will work together if they make the wrong move. It would be better if the Arbiter was convinced to provide fleet assets," Hood continued. He would prefer not involving him but it would look best if all major alliance members partook. He had not, and would never, forget that the Arbiter had been slaughtering humans by the billions until he fell out of favor. Yet politics had forced them together for now. To be honest Hood foresaw war between them in a few decades. But he didn't think he would live long enough to see it and he had to ensure the UNSC was ready for that war.

"If only a token asset," Army General Strauss added and Hood nodded. "Madam President, we have twenty thousand soldiers stationed on Sanghelios, fighting side-by-side with the Sword of Sanghelios to defend that barren ball of dust. That should give us some political favor to call in. Giving that they slaughtered us by the billions and now we help them fight for their homeworld, well…that should count for something." Hood recognized a flair of anger for a split second. It quickly disappeared though.

Redfield took in the information, looking at Forsberg.

"What is ONIs current view of the Lucian Alliance. Are they itching for a fight?"

Forsberg shook his head dismissively.

"Not even close. Their mercenary armies are not willing to die and between them, the Goa'uld remnant, Jiralhanae and Kig-yar raids and the constant skirmishes with the Jaffa and Stargate Command they are in no position for a long war. They are up for a short lightning war, but only if they believe they won't face retaliation by us or any of the other powers." He looked to Commander Takahashi for a final addition.

"They are happy to take advantage of the Free Jaffa political divisions but carefully not to do anything that risk uniting the Jaffa people against a single goal, war. They went head to head with the SGC before we ever encountered either of them so I'm sure they are wary about the strength of their Battlecruisers. The Daedalus class vessels are, as you know ma'am, more than a threat with those Beam weapons."

It seemed to Hood they could all agree on the destructive power of the Asgard Beam Weapons. The New Earth people might not have a lot of military capacity but they made up for it in sheer strength. To Hood's annoyance Heller brought up another idea.

"We should consider expanding Operation Heartache."

The operation was about winning hearts and mind by fortifying primitive human planets and building up their infrastructure. It would surprise nobody that the dozen planets under protectorate status had important resources on them and they had barely been asked, no, they had been told they would be defended by the UNSC. Though most of the primitives didn't possess governments and didn't mind after they saw that they kept their basic rights and their lives was improved and their planets was defended.

"Are you mental?" Smith questioned, mocking Heller. "We can't waste resources on that. We are spread remarkably thin by the conflicts and rebuilding our worlds from the war. Not to mention that it looks bad if we do that. It will look like we are using Advent as a reason to expand and claimed resources."

Redfield raised ah and for him to calm down.

"Gentlemen, we will not do anything to look like conquerors in our allies eyes," she said with a tone of finality to the conversation. "I will speak with the New Earth ambassador about expanding the Joint Task Force and launch a preemptive attack against the Lucian Alliance. They will relish the opportunity for us to finally take sides against their enemy. About Operation Heartache, expanding it means using resources we cannot spare." She looked at the different faces around the table. "With that, this meeting is adjourned."

She looked to Commander Takahashi,

"Commander, a word."

"Yes ma'am," Fuji Takahashi complied.

She then looked at the marine general.

"General Hogan, you will wait as well. We will discuss a team of Spartans I believe has been underused as of late."

"Which is that madam President?" Marine General Hogan inquired.

"Fireteam…" she glanced at her datapad for a second. "…Razgriz."

Hood rose. He liked Redfield's authoritative demeanor. She never asked you to do something, she told you what you were going to do instead.

 **18** **th** **June 2020**

 **Galandria system, Planet Galandria**

"Training? Is that as exciting as it gets here?" The young marine asked as she sighed. She was half serious, half joking.

The older Lieutenant nodded.

"Better up. You get to see a team of Spartans walking off to train," he added a smirk. "You don't even get to participate. The glorious life of a marine, Staff Sergeant Song."

"Glorious is the word, sir," she said with a sigh.

She was sitting on the edge of a cement barricade on the edge of the roof of yellow stone. The village they were stationed in was close to the Stargate and their Platoon was in charge of guarding the gate and the village. The planet was one of the protectorates the UNSC had. The young Staff Sergeant watched Fireteam Ivy marching off towards the the forest edge.

"So how did a decorated war hero end up on this shite planet?" The El-Tee asked.

Staff Sergeant Song looked down at the poorly garbed locals milling about.

"I think that's the reason the locals don't like us very much," she noted.

He chuckled in amusement and Song sighed. She went back to watch the Spartans marching off. She wondered what they were going to do that they couldn't do in a holographic training chamber. Maybe they were going somewhere by ship from here and just planned to put in some practical forest training or something while they waited. Thinking about it; in made sense to her. The Spartans disappeared into the thick vegetation that surrounded the primitive. Well, it actually wasn't as primitive anymore since functioning pluming and air conditioning had been installed, plus the dirt roads in and around had been turned into proper asphalt.

"How long have you been stationed here El-Tee?" Song inquired casually.

"Ah, six months 'bout the time this here planet became a protectorate and," he paused to chuckle. "Let me tell you, they did not like us much when we first got here. They tolerated us fine because we promised to protect 'em, you know?"

She nodded.

"I imagine seizing their resources will do that," she mused to no one in particular.

She and her Squad had only been here for four days and given how boring the others told her this assignment was; she almost regretted her decision to be reassigned. But this calm peaceful village was preferable to her than the deserts of Khaharren.

Her Platoon CO, First Lieutenant Kirtman, picked a cigarette out of a pouch on his waist.

"It's funny really," he said. "I didn't use to smoke, my dad always hold me it would kill him."

"Yeah?" knowing the El-Tee, she doubted it would actually be funny.

"Aye. Then I stepped out of the bubble of wealth I grew up in and realized it was the least dangerous thing for me. So I picked up smoking and an assault rifle, and here we are."

"Inspiring story, sir."

The noise made by the gate brought her eyes back to it. It had started spinning.

"Incoming wormhole people," Kirtman said over their helmet comlink. His voice was calm. He had put his helmet back on for a moment, to now take it off again.

Four Heavy Machinegun turrets was positioned around the gate. A fancy welcome for unfriendly types. Those men was as casual as Kirtman himself. Song imagined it came with having been stationed here and the only threat being boredom would do that. Still, they weren't too relaxed since they did at least stand ready by their turrets. There was two more turrets on the roof top she and Kirtman shared, on opposite sides of each other and same could be said of two other buildings in the village.

She rose to her feet and and grabbed her grey, black helmet with both hands. A light breeze blew through her bob cut raven hair. The gate had encoded the fourth chevron. Kirtman took a knee against the cement barricade and blew out a puff of smoke and brought the cigarette back to his lips. The fifth chevron was encoded. Below them a marine was trying to put on his charm with a local woman and a fellow jarhead laughed at his failure. Sixth chevron was encoded.

"I bet a ration on traders," one of my squadmates said just loud enough so I could hear him.

"Maybe more Spartans," another said.

The seventh and final chevron locked and the whoosh was heard and the regular swirl of energy before it settled. Song put the helmet over her head. Out of the event horizon came a horde of Unggoy. They fired plasma pistols and lobbed grenades while screaming like maniacs. There was a second or two of inaction before the four Heavy Machine gunners encircling the gate exit area started mowing them down, a dozen dropping almost per second. One plasma shot went through a gunner's visor and through his scalp. He collapsed onto the barricade his machinegun was mounted behind. A grenade took three men out of action and demolished a turret.

Song ran to the mounted turret beside her and leveled the aim on the gate area. She squeezed the trigger and started killing three to five of them a second, and somehow they kept coming out of the gate and weren't stopping or running. Not even as they practically started jumping and climbing over their own dead.

Kirtman had dropped his cigarette and put his helmet on. Civilians was running in a panic.

"Gate area under attack, ex-Covies swarming through!" He barked in the comm in his helmet. Song heard his focused and hard voice in her own helmet.

She saw the muzzle flash from his rifle in her peripheral view. A third turret went down after a grenade hit it, but it also sent half a dozen Unggoy flying. One of the other rooftop turrets started spewing led at the xenos.

"What's with these guys?!" One of her squadmates exclaimed over the squad-com frequency.

"Hell if I know!" A second squadmate stated frantically.

"Craze get out of there, abandon the gate area!" Kirtman barked at one of my squadmates.

Song saw that Craze held onto the final turret at the gate area. Still mowing down Unggoy but they would soon gun him down if he remained. Craze didn't respond either.

"You heard the order!" She told him. "Move it; we'll cover you!"

But it was too late and a plasma grenade stuck to him and blew him apart. It flung blood and gore and armor pieces in every direction, even killing three Unggoy in the explosion. When Song's turret ran dry of ammo she estimated at least fifty or so dead Unggoy within the first six or seven meters of the Stargate. The four first turrets had done their job. Yet they kept advancing swiftly, as swiftly as an Unggoy could at least. Although, for a moment she was relieved when they stopped swarming through the gate for ten seconds. She quickly reloaded the turret as Kirtman covered her. Two of her squadmates made their way up.

When she saw a new wave coming through the event horizon she was surprised and confused to see Advent troops. Given their armor coating they were Shock Troops, the primary troops used by Advent. They fired off their weapons and sent bullets our way as well as the Unggoy plasma bolts. There was no time to consider why Unggoy and Advent ended up together for Song finished reloading and opened up on them, ripping through half a dozen shock troopers before they orient themselves after stepping through the gate. Though most were quick to take cover unlike the suicidal Unggoy.

One of the shock troopers lobbed a frag grenade onto another rooftop and both killed or wounded five men and destroyed both turrets. Song heard the screams. She heard one of them over her comms. It was Friedman. Her screams soon died down completely as Song imagined some cold blooded bastard finished her off.

"Don't let 'em organize!" Kirtman barked orders. "Alois, get that goddamn rocket launcher firing!" He put a bullet through the visor of a shock trooper. "Hold fats, we have the Spartans incoming boys and girl, just hold!"

 _Piece of cake_ , Song though. One of her squadmates mounted the opposite turret and started punishing the hostiles for trying to encircle the village. She just kept firing the turret and killed trooper and trooper. The Unggoy that survived this far had moved into the village proper. For a second her life flashed before her when a plasma grenade attached itself to the turret.

"Grenade!" She yelled and booked it to the other side of the roof.

The explosion flung her to the ground, but unharmed. She heard yelling, plasma and kinetic fire, explosions and her own pulse in her ears. As she laid there. She groaned and opened her eyes. She saw a pair of legs half facing her and in a crouched position.

"Come on, Kimberly, come on," she told herself.

She forced herself up on her knees and tried to focus. For a moment she was surrounded by sand, in a frighteningly familiar desert and bodies of ex-Covies and marines surrounded her. her heart started beating faster and her mind raced. She heard shouting and shooting and a Sangheili approached. The large grey armored Saurian had a weapon leveled at her and without thinking she reacted by firing her BR85N. She staggered backwards and was knocked to to the sand when someone slammed into her. Then she was back on the rooftop. Confused and panicked. She looked to see a dead marine beside her. her visor identified him as corporal named Fred Paulson. She sat up and looked around. The rooftop was devoid of life and she stared at Kirtman's lifeless body and bullet wounds in his chest.

Her eyes widened and she was frightened by the thought that she had shoot him. yet, it could as easily had been a shock trooper. They used similar kinetic weapons. With no way to tell she scurried over to him. His chestplate had stopped a dozen bullets but some had torn through.

"El-Tee, El-Tee," she pleaded in hopes he was alive. She felt a clump in the back of her throat.

" _Staff, Staff_!"

She registered the voice of a fellow marine and gripped her rifle tightly.

"Y-yes!"

" _Oh thank god, is there_ …" he paused, probably to fire. "… _anyone else alive up there? How's the El-Tee_?"

She swallowed hard.

"I…he's dead."

She didn't get a response and he didn't respond when she tried to talk to him so she assumed he was KIA too. As a head popped up over the barricade she aimed and fired ten rounds into his black helmet. There was no cry and the shock trooper dropped back down dead.

With a running start she leaped off the roof and immediately got to cover behind a corner and put a round through an Unggoy. He held a grenade and it detonated, blasting him apart and turning two shock troopers into casualties.

"Squad one, two and four report!" She ordered. She had to see which officers remained.

" _Corporal Davis here ma'am, Staff's dead_ ," came from 1st Squad.

" _2_ _nd_ _Squad XO reporting in. Afraid 4_ _th_ _Squad is gone, everyone's KIA_!"

Song abandoned her cover for the inside of a house when two shock troopers found a good position to shoot from.

" _Staff Sergeant_ ," she heard a voice through the comms. It was unfamiliar to her. It was a feminine voice. A tougher and harder version of her own almost. " _Spartan-A305, we're pushing forward from the west. Attempting to take the gate area and cut off their escape_."

She felt a wave of relief to hear that the Spartans was fighting with them.

"C-copy!"

" _Shock trooper took a dozen locals through the gate_ ," the same Spartan reported in a neutral voice. " _Mostly kids_."

She didn't have time to get angry about that, not when a shock trooper made his way through the door. She had just gunned down his buddy outside. She ducked behind a couch as she fired and she heard his rounds leap from his gun barrel and the couch was shredded. A few even scraped the side of her armor. With no sound of gunfire inside she rose to her feet and found the man down, wounded. She aimed at the groaning terrorist's head and squeezed the trigger as fury filled her mind.


	2. New Beginnings Part 2

Gateway

Chapter 2 New Beginnings Part 2

 **18** **th** **June 2558**

 **Galandria system, Planet Galandria**

Song removed her helmet and dropped it to the ground. She kneeled and felt all-around dizzy and a little frightened. She was trying to piece together everything. The flashback and First Lieutenant Kirtman. Those frightening moments was a complete blur to her. The massacre was over and the Spartans had been instrumental in cleaning up the remaining Advent troops that hadn't withdrawn through the gate. Out of a Platoon of forty-eight twelve had survived. Terrorist bastards left no wounded in their wake.

Song looked up when she saw a Pelican flying overhead. They were transporting wounded civvies to a medical facility they had built on the planet.

"Ma'am," she heard a voice behind her. Song turned her head to look over her shoulder and found a Spartan there. "Are you okay?"

Song turned her head back to look at the stream of cold water in front of her.

"Yeah. I…I was dizzy, is all," she assured. "This bloodbath."

"Yes ma'am," he said. "I have the casualty numbers if you want them."

"Shouldn't you give them to Colonel Milligan?"

"He already saw them. Thought you should see them since you're the surviving senior office," he explained. When Song nodded he gave her the numbers verbally. "Twelve survivors marines, eight minor wounded, one seriously. Twenty-seven civvies KIA and fifteen wounded. Enemy casualties are seventy-seven Unggoy KIA and eighteen shock troopers. Two wounded was captured."

"I doubt they'll give us any useful Intel," Song sighed. "These foot soldiers we captured in the past have never known anything useful. Advent is too compartmentalized. We won't get anything from them. I know Oni has their ways, but you can make people tell you what they don't know."

"Yes ma'am," was the Spartans only response to her depressive rant.

Song had no idea which of the Spartans she was conversing with, or rather trying to converse with. She hadn't met a lot of them but they were all pretty cold. At least the Spartan IIs and IIIs, the IVs different.

"Dismissed," she told the Spartan. She splashed her face with water. "Come on Kimberly, get your head in the game. Your fine, your fine. Focus." _What would dad say_? She thought to herself. She imagined the admiral would berate her or something. She mentally cursed herself for thinking about her dad and tried her best to push him from her mind. She put her helmet back on and marched back to the village milling with drop troopers. She saw that the gate was active and columns of army troopers marched through. She assumed they were part of the reinforced garrison.

For six months Galandria had been a protectorate and it had mostly been the Marine Corps job to garrison much of it since it laid outside UNSC space, but before she was transferred here she had heard that within six months the marines would be replaced with the army. It seemed it had already started. Perhaps Advent had convinced somebody or more likely they needed marines elsewhere. She made her way to locate Lieutenant Colonel Pelle Milligan, an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. He gave orders to his subordinates.

She halted and snapped a salute.

"Colonel."

"Staff Sergeant Song," he acknowledged. "Good you joined me, saved me to hail you. I got orders for the surviving marines."

"What's our orders, sir?" She asked.

"You will be absorbed into the 509th Battalion, your CO is Lt. Colonel Hargrove. Battalion goes by the nickname Bloodravens. Heard of it?"

Her eyes widened under her visor and she was happy he couldn't see her expression right now. The Bloodraven marines was involved in some of the bloodiest fighting in the Covies Civil War. She didn't pretend to understand the strategical reason and political reasoning behind this but it meant she was going back into the fighting, and maybe even worse than before.

"So Grunts and Advent, working together?" He inquired bemused.

"Eh, I don't know if working together is the right word, sir. The Unggoy came through first. They clearly used them as cannon fodder. Why some Unggoy and Advent is working together, we…"

"Leave that to the eggheads back home Staff," he chuckled.

 **18** **th** **June 2020**

 **Tau'ri Space, Sol system, Planet Earth**

 **Cheyanne Mountain Complex aka Stargate Command**

General Jack O'Neill was sipping from his coffee in a well-deserved break after speaking with ONI Representative Lynchester about the first Earth Carrier coming off the production line. The Dragon class Carrier _Achilles_. The IOA argued for a vessel that would act as IOA's offworld command post. With a ZPM Achilles was the most powerful warship produced by Earth and the Military Coalition Council had already refused to give the IOA control over it.

As far as O'Neill was concerned anyone deserved a break after being in the same building as Mr Lynchester. His mood brightened at a report from the Joint Task Force. It read that the Carrier pack they had chased had been destroyed, which was great news. Though he expected some Advent terrorist counterattack. Something to kill a bunch of soldiers or civilians, or both.

There was a knock on the door and O'Neill looked up.

"Enter."

The wooden door slid open and a man in a green jumpsuit entered. He saluted.

"Sir, SG-23 is preparing to embark," he informed him in a Vietnamese accent.

O'Neill looked at the man's name and rank on his jumpsuit.

"Thank you Staff Sergeant…" yeah there was no way he could pronounce that right. "…Staff Sergeant, thank you."

The man bobbed his head and left. O'Neill sipped from his coffee and got up. His eyes glanced at a report sticking out of the pile. The title of it was UN something, and he groaned and walked out into the briefing room and down to the control room and into the embarkation room.

Major June Cooper was awaiting for the gate to spin up. Her four teammates seemed eager to have her back. After thirteen months they were probably beyond eager to have their CO back in action. He remembered the mission. Standard diplomatic mission really. Her team acted security for an ambassador sent to a Free Jaffa world to mediate a conflict between two minor Free Jaffa Pritarchs-or governors-and it ended with a firefight where Cooper was severely wounded.

"General," the olive skinned woman said when she saw him on approach.

"Major!" He said with a smile on his face and cup in his hand. The sixth chevron was in place. "I'll see you in forty-eight hours."

"Yes, sir. Can't wait," she stated.

He smirked. He knew she wasn't fond on this mission, but somebody had to do it. actually he thought she took it better then he would have back when he led SG-1. To their side the Stargate activated with its usual 'whoosh'.

"Mind the curfew and tell Colonel Gate to double time it back here. I have a new boring mission for him lined up."

Cooper grinned, "I'll tell him."

He looked to the Stargate and started turning.

"Just in case, I order you to come back in one piece this time," he said, giving her a stern look.

She pushed her grin away for a moment.

"You bet, sir." She turned to face her team. "Alright, let's move out!"

As the gate closed he sighed. Guessed he had to get back to the paperwork now. First he looked around for a distraction, but there was none to find. As he exited the embarkation room the gate spun into life. he looked at his watch.

"SG-4 should be back about now." He trotted into the embarkation room again. "This'll do."

As the Stargate activated Walter informed him SG-4s IDC was coming through and the Iris deactivated. With that four soldiers marched through the gate. The CO was a short Chinese man.

"General, I didn't think you would greet us in person," the major said, a little surprised.

"Yes, well," O'Neill started. "I have paperwork to avoid, speaking of which…I want a debrief as soon as you get out of your gear."

 **18** **th** **June 2558**

 **Dari'm system, Planet Dari'm**

Cooper took a deep breath of fresh offworld air.

"God I have missed this," she admitted.

"Same," her XO, Roark, agreed.

"You still went on missions," Cooper reminded him.

"Yeah. Wasn't the same without you though," the large dark skinned man stated.

Cooper smiled a little.

"Alright, let's go." Over her earpiece she said, "SG-18, this is Major Cooper of SG-23."

As they started walking through the forest surrounded field a friendly and familiar voice answered.

"Hey Coop. General sent you to relieve us from this utterly…exciting…assignment?" Colonel Benjamin Gate answered.

"That's right. We'll be there in…oh ten minutes or so," Cooper announced.

"Copy that. we'll go over the details when you get here, Gate's out."

"Well, he's excited to see you," Roark noted.

"Course he is, we've been friends for years," Cooper replied plainly.

"Uh-huh." Roark didn't say anything else, but he left it hanging there.

Cooper rolled her eyes. She eyed the two final members of her team. Staff Sergeants Abbigail Hall and Robbie Flannigan. Hall had been new to the team when she was shot in the back, though, Flannigan had been part of the team for a few years prior.

"Sergeant Hall," said Cooper. She looked to Hall, walking slightly behind her to the left.

"Ma'am."

"Have you ever met a Sangheili?"

"No, I haven't. The only aliens I've ever met are those Kig-yar on PR4…something," Hall stated. She didn't count the Jaffa since they were almost human.

"Hmm, yeah. I remember that," Roark mused, his head titled left as they walked. "The pirates."

"Well, Hall, you're about to have your first Sangheili encounter so…you know, brace3 yourself," Cooper steered the conversation back on track. "Think triple the strength of a Jaffa and a portion of the superiority complex of a Goa'uld. Minus the god complex off course."

Hall frowned, "Sounds…interesting, I think."

Cooper thought about the mission. A Sangheili archeologist had come to them and claimed he had found some Ancient ruins and asked for the SGC to provide equipment and extra security. He had hired some Kig-yar but he didn't trust them not to rob him blind when he breached the buried building. The local Jaffa Pritarch offered some manpower to unearth the facility.

The encampment laid in the center of an old ruined town. Ruins of what had once been tall spiraling buildings and stone laid streets was only a memory. A dozen tents was set up around a hole leading down into the earth, Cooper assumed that was where the facility was located. She noted three Kig-yar drinking and laughing and three sleeping with bottles around them, no doubt drunk. Definitely top notch security he had found. There was two dozen Free Jaffa in the camp, she assumed it was the labor force provided by the Pritarch. Her eyes landed on two young women in SGC uniform. She sat and played a game of cards, until the one with a ponytail spotted her and got up. she snapped of a salute and the other followed.

"Major," the first greeted her.

"Fox, Wolf," Cooper nodded in a greeting in return. "Where's Gate?"

"He's down in the tunnels with Yun Jhelum," the younger, Fox, answered.

"Thank you," Cooper said and turned to her team. "Get settled in, we'll be here for forty-eight hours."

Roark, Hall and Flannigan all nodded.

Cooper walked over to the hole and climbed down a ladder. She found herself in a square room of Ancient design with four pillars and two corridors, one of them had collapsed and there was steel beams supporting the roof of the chamber and the opposite corridor. She made her way down the stabilized and rounded a corner to find a junction. One corridor was being dug out and stabilized and the other was stabilized and cleaned from debris. It led into a small control room where she found Gate's and the Sangheili archeologist in question.

"Benjamin," Cooper caught his attention.

He turned around with a big smile on his face.

"Hey, Coop. Was wondering when you'd get here." He gave over and gripped her by the shoulders. "Damn it's good to see you."

"Yeah, same. I'd love to spent an hour talking but General O'Neill want you back for a new mission," Cooper said, a wide smile across her face.

Benjamin Gate was a muscular man with a regular built and a dark complexion. He lightly shook Cooper affectionately.

"How's that?" He asked.

"Yeah, he had a big boring mission lined up for you."

"Off course he has," he sighed, still smirking. He rubbed his neck. "We've had a quiet time since we arrived." He nodded to the archeologist. "Yun Jhelum determined that the there is something behind the closed down door and he's trying to open it somehow. Explosives would open the door but would bring the whole place down over us."

Cooper nodded with a professional expression.

"Alright."

He gave her a pad on the shoulder as he walked past her.

"I'll catch you back at the SGC in a few days, Coop."

"Definitely," she said and nodded. She turned to face the robed Sangheili as he was working on a datapad connected to a console.

"So you're my new security?" He broke to look up at her.

"Major Cooper, SG-23," she introduced herself. She was certain Gate's had informed him that she would relieve him.

He studied her with his cold eyes, then scoffed and shook his head.

Cooper frowned.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She led her weapon hang over her shoulder as she crossed her arms over her chest.

He shook his head and proceeded to look at the datapad.

"I was a Zealot in the days of the Covenant, five years prior," he said, and Cooper wondered what this had to do with it. "Say what you will of the Covenant-and there is much to say-they did not allow females in its warrior ranks." He finished by scoffing.

"And how did that go?" A smug smirk rising on her olive complexion features.

It earn a look of ire from the Sangheili when he quickly raised his gaze to star at her. He straightened his back and clicked his mandibles viciously.

"You dare human!" He growled loudly.

She was taken aback slightly by how angry he became, but she wouldn't back down. She had only met some and they had all been arrogant and with a since of superior in every way. Even after a war of genocide they thought themselves superior in every way.

"Major," Roark said over the earpiece.

"Report."

"I got a good look at the camp. It's got some good defensive positions should it come to it," he reported.

"Copy that. Good work, Roark."

Jhelum snorted and got back to work. Cooper left him alone and made her way out the corridors again.

 **18** **th** **June 2558**

 **Free Jaffa Planet**

The large black furred Jiralhanae swept his hands across each other and wiped them from some small amount of blood soaking them. It was impossible to recognize that the corpse he walked over had been a young Jaffa woman moments ago. Half the stone houses around the gate had been destroyed in the slaughter and corpses of men, women and children littered the ground.

He spit at a dead Jiralhanae. A warrior that fell to these worthless beings with barely a handful of weapons between them deserved death.

The first slaves would soon be led through the gate. The unlucky ones that was carried into slavery, mostly women and children. Before the enslaved would be led back to his planet they were forced to pile up their dead siblings, fathers, mothers and children in front of the gate. The His men oversaw it with glee, as did he as he heard their pained screams and crying of the children dragging their butchered parents. His men took everything of value in the area. He knew that soon enough the galaxy would fear the name Primikeus.

Primikeus addressed his second in command, "Hurry this up or I'll add your corpse to the pile."

"Yes Primal One!" His Beta complied.

He wanted to get back to his base and check the progress of the raids led by his subordinates and if any of them would fail they would join the heads lining the walls of his great hall. Heads of opponents and failed subordinates filled the walls. It was a truly beautiful sight to him, a reminder to everyone that entered that he was in charge.


	3. Dari'm Part 1

Gateway

Chapter 3 Dari'm Part 1

 **18** **th** **June 2020**

 **Free Jaffa Nation space, Planet Dari'm**

Flannigan and Hall was patrolling just nearby and Cooper had barely settled in and put down her pack when Gate's voice came over the earpiece. She was sitting against some rubble with Roark.

" _Coop! We got Advent at the gate_!"

She jumped to her feet instantly.

"Sir? How many?" She asked through her earpiece.

Dozens and growing _! We killed four but Locke is wounded. We are falling back to the ruins_ ," Gate's told them.

"Copy that," she said and turned to Roark. "Inform our Sangheili friend and get those Kig-yar mercs up and ready. And tell the civilians to evacuate. There's a Jaffa fort to the south right, send them there."

"Got it ma'am," he answered.

Why where they here though? It couldn't be a coincidence that they were excavating an Ancient facility. She knew Advent had a spy network of humans spread out in the galaxy and it seemed likely that they knew more than she did about this facility. They wouldn't throw unnecessary resources on attacking the dig otherwise, although, as soon as she said it she acknowledged to herself that they actually might just throw manpower at them in hopes of getting something cool. Joseph Eli seemed to be nonchalant about losing men.

She moved her hand to her ear.

"Hall, Flannigan we have Advent incoming. I…want you in the tower west of camp Flannigan."

"Copy," the team marksman complied.

Cooper looked around her. There was four way to to get to the camp. The rest was blocked by the old ruined buildings. It wasn't long until Demetrius Roark returned with Jhelum and he looked damn angry. Jaffa laborers was climbing out of the chamber below their feet.

"Cooper, two of the men had Zats and is staying to fight with us, rest of the locals will head for the fort."

Cooper nodded. Then the garrison could protect them and she wouldn't need to worry.

"Unbelievable," Jhelum grumbled. "Fifteen minutes here and you draw the Advent's attention."

 _Wait, what_? She thought. She went back to ignoring him for a moment. "Send those two to the tower. Flannigan will sit there in sniping position and they can cover him."

"Got it." He glared at Jhelum before he gestured the two Jaffa over.

Staff Sergeant Hall came running. She stopped in front of Cooper.

"I want you defending the eastern road to camp, I'll hold one of the northern, Roark will take the western and the hired goons and SG-18 will spread out and hold until General O'Neill sends backup," said Cooper. "When Gate's gets back here we'll see if he counted a more exact number."

Hall nodded, "Ma'am."

With that Cooper turned to Jhelum. He had remained silent for the moment.

"How are you so sure you can hold until your general sends help?" Jhelum asked in disbelief. "You are not Sangheili."

"We only need to hold out twenty minutes or so," Cooper said, a sigh escaped her. "Look buddy, Colonel Gate and his team was at the gate when Advent came and it takes some ten minutes from these ruins to the gate. O'Neill knowns this and he'll make contact within twenty minutes."

Roark came over to join us, "Birds are gone."

Cooper blinked confused, "Eh…what?"

Jhelum growled. He understood.

"The Kig-yar."

"They're gone. Just scrambled into the southern forest," Roark explained. "So much for your bodyguards for hire."

Jhelum snorted.

"If I catch them I shall rip out their throats," he promised furiously.

Cooper couldn't say she was surprised. Kig-yar was known as pirates and raiders to her people. Criminals with military grade hardware, like the Lucian Alliance. No surprise the drunk goons had no loyalty. Back when they encountered Kig-yar pirates they had been extorting some villages on a backwater planet. Only other time she had seen them was on a short joint operation with UNSCs army branch against a Covenant of the Hand base established close to one of their colonies, Valhalla.

Despite her aura of confidence she knew they wouldn't be able to holdfast against a too large Advent force to very long. Anything larger than a Platoon would be able to overrun their perimeter quick enough.

When SG-18 returned Gate's dispersed hid team to guard three of the approaches to camp with him and Cooper guarding the forth. Jhelum went back to work and Corporal Locke was in the underground chamber because of his injury. His hope was to get the door open and reach whatever was inside before Advent broke the Stargate teams perimeter. Gate's had counted at least three Platoons, around a hundred and forty or so.

"I at first thought we were dealing with a faction of Ex-Covies," Gate told Cooper as they shared cover behind a fallen pillar. "I counted thirty Unggoy first through the gate, but they returned after Advent's shock troops arrived."

Cooper frowned deeply.

"What do you mean they returned? Why send them through and back after encountering resistance?" It didn't make any sense to her.

"Well," Gate supposed. "The UNSC told us the old Covenant used Unggoy as fodder in the war. I'm thinking that Advent might be doing the same thing. What if Eli hires them or enslaved them or something rather, and is starting to use them as fodder. When they arrived my team withdrew and maybe a ground commander didn't want to let the fodder get glory for recovering whatever's inside…" he then lightly shrugged. "But I don't know. I'm only guessing."

"Hmm," Cooper nodded. "Sounds good enough for me. Let's make them regret that decision."

He smirked, "Damn right."

They heard a shot not too far a distance away. Gate reached for his earpiece first.

"Report!"

" _Sir, took out a sharpshooter in the bushes_ ," Flannigan reported.

"Good work son, keep it up," Gate stated.

Cooper studied his rifle. It was black with a silver lining with a scope, a firm handle under the barrel and a stock against the shoulder. It was the same weapon she had, the Adaptive Multirole Combat Rifle. It was a good and reliable rifle used since three years back.

"There we go," Gate' said, nodding over the fallen pillar.

Cooper nodded as she also saw the approaching soldiers in black and red armor. She counted seven of them, which suggested a scouting party to determine the level of resistance.

" _Colonel, we have three hostiles approaching our position_ ," Hall reported.

" _Got give approaching here_ ," one of Gate' teammates, Wolf, reported.

"Copy that," Gate answered.

He and cooper heard gunfire from the other positions.

" _Same, four soldiers_ ," Roark reported. " _Scratch that, three_."

Cooper smirked and aimed at the approaching men. The seven soldiers came forth moving from cover to cover. Cooper found a good opportunity and squeezed the trigger. The burst hit him in the chest and he fell backwards. Two of his comrades moved to pull him to cover; allowing Gate to hit one of them with two burst, killing him. The other soldier managed to get his sounded comrade behind cover of a collapsed wall.

Cooper ducked when they started firing back, twenty meters from them.

"This is not the first mission back I expected," she told Gate.

"No doubt," he answered. "But you missed this stuff."

He fired two bursts and scored a headshot.

"Yeah, a bit," she supposed.

She fired a burst and kept a shock trooper from changing cover. She heard Hall over the earpiece.

" _We have twenty hostiles moving towards our position_ ," she reported swiftly.

"Damn it," Gate cursed.

"Guess they're not holding back," Cooper said, realizing her scouting theory was wrong.

""Hold as long as you can Staff Sergeant," Gate ordered. "Staff Sergeant Flannigan focus your attention at Hall and and Fox' position."

" _Copy. We'll hold_ ," Hall said.

" _Already on it, sir_ ," the marksman answered.

Cooper let go of her rifle and got out a grenade. She lobbed it over and it landed behind the cover shared by two hostiles. One of them with quick reflexes leaped from cover in time for Gate to wound him and pin the other down. The following second the grenade detonated and agonizing screams followed.

"We're still on the same level," said Cooper and offered her superior a smirk.

He maintain a neutral expression as a fighter swept in over their heads. She identified it as an Advent Interceptor. It was based off the GA-TL1 Longsword Interceptor but unlike it the Advent model was black as the darkest of nights.

"Looks like they have a Carrier in orbit," Gate said, his expression hardening. Cooper and he shared a look and knew that the situation was becoming worse and worse. "We need to fall back to the Ancient facility."

Cooper reached for her earpiece, "Hostile aero support incoming. I need everybody to withdraw to the tunnels, now!" She looked to Gate. With a nod she told him she'd cover him when he moved.


	4. Dari'm Part 2

Gateway

Chapter 4 Dari'm Part 2

 **18** **th** **June 2020**

 **Tau'ri Space, Sol system, Planet Earth**

 **Cheyanne Mountain Complex aka Stargate Command**

General Jack O'Neill couldn't help but always be impressed when he saw Spartans. These five were giants clad in raven black armor with red visors for additional scare effect. They had joined UNSC Admiral O'Connor as his security detail.

In the briefing room O'Neill was sitting in the seat reserved for the CO of Stargate Command. Opposite him sat his UNSC counterpart at this meeting. Admiral O'Connor with the five Spartans of Fireteam Razgriz lined up at attention at his back. Half the chairs between them was filled by other representatives. From O'Neill's side was IOA Representative Mr Lynchester, a Colonel from the Coalition Armed Forces, Colonel Cameron Mitchell and a UN representative. On O'Connor's side was a ONI representative; Commander Fuji Takahashi and an ODST Colonel. This was why O'Neill hated official meetings, it was all, well…official, which meant slow and tedious work.

"Well, the only thing the UN can agree on is furthering cooperation with our allies," O'Neill said, remembering how he dreaded his meeting with the UN Security Council with some UNAF generals and admiral last month.

"Our Assembly agrees on that too," O'Connor stated.

O'Neill smirked. He hadn't been very positive on cooperating with the Russians when their first team joined the SGC, but that was many years ago. There was plenty of those in the UNAF right now. People that wanted to go at it alone to prove their metal or something like that, or simply didn't trust their offworld allies.

"The question any joint operation has is where to base out of," O'Connor continued on point. "While strategically the SGC is a good option because of the resources immediately available, it's not politically convenient. You understand that some important people will see it as being subservient." O'Neill liked how straightforward O'Connor could be at times.

"Yes, we see that," O'Neill agreed, barely containing a sigh. He sometimes wished he had stayed a colonel, no politics to deal with and since their alliance with the UNSC politics became even more complicated. "An offworld base will be fine, the only question is where. Our politicians would have the same problem with operating out of a UNSC base. It has only been five years since we revealed the Stargate program to the world and there are still a lot of protests."

He eyed the window to the embarkation room as the gate was dialed. Sergeant Walter Harriman had informed him a few minutes ago that Colonel Gate's team was late back from Dari'm.

"Colonel Shepard and SG10 is scouting out M1R-P88 as a possible base," Colonel Cameron Mitchell stated. He looked at O'Neill and then O'Connor. "If it is viable we could use that. It's in unclaimed space and no one lives there."

"If you could send us the data we can see if we find it suitable," O'Connor Offered.

In the embarkation room the Stargate had activated.

"That sounds fine," O'Neill said, rather casually.

He noted Walter coming up the spiral staircase from the control room. He walked up to him with his hands behind his back as he stopped.

"Excuse me general. We have made contact with Dari'm and Colonel Gate says they are under attack by Advent forces."

O'Neill rose in his chair, "What!"

"The gate in under enemy control and they are approaching the ruins. SG-18 and 23 are digging in for now. The archeologist's hired bodyguards have already taken off," Walter promptly told him.

Concerned glanced was exchanged around the table and O'Connor stood up. O'Neill turned his head to Mitchell and he immediately got up, fully aware of his next set of orders.

"Assemble SG-4, eight and nineteen and whatever UNAF marines are on the base and be ready to move out immediately," he ordered. The marine branch of the Coalition Armed Forces was commanded by Stargate Command.

"Yes, sir," Mitchell said with a hardened resolute voice. "We'll show those terrorists."

O'Neill looked back to Walter as Mitchell made his way out of the room quickly.

"There is only one Platoon at the base at his moment, sir," Walter explained. "It will take twenty minutes to gear up all of them."

"Well, step on it, will you," The general ordered.

Walter nodded firmly, "Yes, sir."

On his side of the briefing table Admiral O'Connor's mind raced with possibilities.

"General, Fireteam Razgriz can leave immediately if you allow," he decided to offer.

O'Neill could see that the ODST colonel looked like he wanted to protest. Perhaps he thought that if anyone should be nominated it should be drop troopers. He knew about the decades long rivalry between the ODSTs and Spartans. The man was professional, though, and didn't raise his opinion.

"Whenever they're ready," was the general's response. He was more than happy to send in a team of super soldiers to support his teams. Hell, it might even work to strengthen them politically and get the IOA off his back for a while. He looked to Lynchester. He was writing something in his notebook, calm and with a lack of any emotions that lives was at stake. To be fair O'Neill had come to expect that the man had as much empathy as a block of ice.

Spartan Ares-B312 looked down at the shorter admiral through the red visor in his helmet. He didn't much like the idea of leaving the delegation without a security detail. Granted he didn't expect their New Earth allies to do anything hostile, but still. If something went down he couldn't trust in himself or a teammate to protect them. though, he pu7shed the doubts aside when the orders came out of the admiral's mouth.

He lined up his four teammates and marched after the little man, Walter, General O'Neill called him. The general himself and the admiral followed. As did Commander Takahashi. In the embarkation room Ares prepared his BR85HB and held it in a tight grip. The others was ready with their own weapons.

"Prepare for close quarters combat when we step through," Ares told his team through their private comm.

"We're ready," Kei said. She was the only woman of the five.

Alvin cocked his shotgun as the operator announced that the fifth chevron was encoded.

"Let's show these Advent guys why the Covenant called us demons," Ares declared as the sixth chevron was encoded.

"Right beside you Razgriz One," Alvin answered.

"We go in loud or quite?" Hans-B005 asked.

"Loud," Ares responded. "Let's make the terrorists worry."

"Less time to attack the Stargate team," Hans stated.

Which was Ares's idea. If they went in hard and eliminated everyone at the gate swiftly it would leave the others puzzled about their comrades no longer responding. As they kept moving forward they would keep hitting them hard and killing them and make them worry about who they were fighting.

"Chevron seven, locked," Walter announced.

The Stargate activated and whooshed as it always did. Ares was first up and through in a sprint with Alvin-B125 and Marcus-B019 flanking him. Kei-B015 and Hans-B005 was at most a second behind.

On the other side of the event horizon Ares found a flat field encircled by a green lush forest. The DHD stood a few meters from the gate and old stone pillars surrounded the Stargate's immediate area. He counted thirteen hostiles. Advent's slick black and crimson armor. He dashed towards the pillars on the right side as he squeezed the trigger of his assault rifle. Three burst left his barrel before he got behind the first pillar. Each burst found a hit and left gurgling or no sound at all but a thud as they hit the grassy ground.

Alvin fired two rounds with his shotgun in quick succession. Both splattered helmet and skull of the target. Using his combat knife he rushed a shock trooper and slammed the knife through the visor and pulled it back before the body hit the ground. His third shot hit home at almost point black range, leaving the armor almost useless. The target cried out in pain as he was alive. Alvin made the microsecond decision to leave him to bleed out in pain, which he clearly would.

Marcus let his SAW rip and turned two men into Swiss cheese in the opening moment of the fight. A handful of bullets scraped his armor. he shifted his aim slightly and mowed down a man peeking out behind one of the old stone pillars.

Kei sprinted towards the team CO taking cover behind the DHD. She jumped it and landed right beside the crouched soldier. Her combat knife made quick work of his less protected armor junctions and his visor was the most tempting target.

On his part Hans used his beloved Magnum. He fired one shot through the visor of a soldier, rolled sideways and fired three more rounds. The first striked a visor and the other two cracked through a chestplate.

That made thirteen. The fight lasted five seconds.

Hans chuckled.

"I almost missing fighting Sangheili and Jiralhanae. They could put up a fight," he added amused.

"There is an unspecified number of shock troops and maybe even Vanguard between us and the ruins the SG teams are held up in," Ares answered plainly. "Don't get too cocky."

"I don't get cocky," Hans claimed.

Kei and Alvin responded by a small laugh.

"And you have a great taste in music," Kei said sarcastically.

She and Alvin fist bumped.

"Move out," Ares ordered.

He noted that the closed behind them.

"Colonel Gate, do you read, this is Spartan-B312. Do you copy?" He tried to get a hold of the leader of SG-18.

"I read you Spartan," an enthusiastic voice came back. "Man, am I glad to hear we have Spartans to rescue our assess."

"Yes, sir," Ares answered, his voice neutral. "Stargate cleared. We're moving towards the ruins and a Platoon of UNAF marines under Colonel Mitchell is preparing back in the SGC."

"That's good news right there, " Colonel Gate said. "Trek from the gate is just about a kilometer."

"What is the enemy strength, sir?" Ares asked stoically.

"mmHmm. At least three Platoons worth of soldiers. There is a Carrier and some support Frigates in orbit but the Free Jaffa is trying to hold back any landing or aero support," he informed them. "A few got through last we looked."

"We'll be at the ruins soon. Should seed some chaos on the way, Spartan-B312 out." He cut the channel.

The entered the forest proper at a fast pace. They kept a good distance from the dirt road that led to the ruins. It wouldn't take them long to close the one kilometer trek and Ares played a rock song in his helmet. It was an old song from the late 23rd Century. If he knew his friends they did the same right about now. They moved through the woods with high speed and without making any noise, which was impressive for two meter tall heavily armored soldiers.

Ares noted that the terrain was rather thick, but not too thick. The trees grew with a general distance of a meter and a half, add in branches and bushes and large rocks and it was hard to move a larger unit through here. Like three Platoons of shock troops.

"Hey, Ares," Marcus said. "Any idea what's so special about this place?"

"No, but we can find out when we reach the SG teams," Ares answered. "But first we kill every terrorist in our way. That's our mission, focus on that. the why isn't important right now."

"Of course," Marcus answered plainly. "But I know you're curious yourself."

He didn't press so Ares didn't respond. Naturally he was curious but it didn't have an immediate impact on their mission, not in his mind at least. Advent was here and advancing on their New Earth allies. Whatever brought them here didn't calculate into their mission. Their mission was to kill the terrorists and wait for SG Colonel Mitchell to arrive with reinforcements.

They all stopped when they spotted a hostile squad. Ares instantly counted eight shock troopers. They ducked down and watched them marching towards the ruins.

"That is some serious firepower," Kei said through their helmet comm. "Four Light machineguns, a rocket launcher, a portable heavy turret and one hostile with a grenade launcher."

"Some heavy firepower to break through the New Earth team," Marcus assumed.

On his HUD Ares noted that his team members was ready to eliminate a man each on his command.

"Fire." He fired a burst and made holes in the skull of the man with the rocket launcher.

At the same time Marcus mowed down two men, Hans squeezed the trigger of his SRS99 and at a range of six meters he easily put a hole through the helmet and skull of one of the light machinegunners, Kei fired two rounds with her Magnum and killed one of the two carrying the heavy turret and placed three rounds in the back of the other. Alvin fired his shotgun and took out the hostile with the grenade launcher. The eighth and final hostile was killed via a burst of lead from Ares.

"Nice work," Ares said as he and his team started moving.

They pressed for a few minutes and they were able to spot Advent Interceptors and Free Jaffa Death Gliders fighting far over their heads. It appeared the Jaffa wasn't going to let the terrorists attack their planet without putting up a fight. For a moment Ares wondered if any of their fighters was the newer Hydra models but they were all Death Gliders. He supposed an impoverished small planet wasn't equipped with newer models. They probably started deploying them in their core systems and fleets.

 **18** **th** **June 2558**

 **UNSC Space, Sol system, Planet Earth**

 **Capital Sidney, Presidential Palace**

The Presidential Palace was an impressive sight, however, Hood saw most of all the security risk it was. An orbital bombardment would easily level the place and kill the president. Of volunteered from the army rank and file and received the United Earth Government sigil on their chest and their armor and uniform was blue camouflage. There was also a massive underground hangar in the back with a Frigate waiting. She had the newest type as her command ship whenever necessary. The Anlace class Frigate _UNSC Aztec_.

President Redfield's office was a nice comfy place with a firm oak desk and an armchair with a puffy seat for extra comfort. She was looking at a pad as he entered. Present was also ONI Commander Fuji Takahashi. She saluted him and he nodded to her to relax.

"Glad you came Fleet Admiral. I hope you weren't getting too comfortable on the _Infinity_ ," Redfield said with a charming smile. She looked at Takahashi. "Thank you Commander. Excuse us."

Takahashi saluted her and marched out, adding, "Sir," as she passed Hood.

He walked over to the desk and Redfield slid over the pad. He looked at it and picked it up. He recognized the man holding a speech on it. A politician by the name Douglas Brown, a senator in the Assembly.

"You know him?" Redfield asked.

He nodded, "I do. Totalitarian character. I assume he's making news again?"

She nodded and leaned back. He noted the neutral expression on her face, hiding her true feelings. He knew that he had been close to winning the latest election, but Redfield won by a few points and got reelected. He hadn't exactly stayed quite. He made a lot of noise in the media constantly.

"He draws a lot of people when he speaks," Redfield said displeased. "People are starting to listen."

"If you scream loudly enough they usually do," Hood spoke through experience.

He remembered that Mr Brown attacked Redfield constantly and claimed the military and ONI deceived the people and rigged the election. Absurd obviously, but it didn't stop people from believing it. He attacked Redfield on everything from not dealing with the Ex-Covie factions, civil rights, UNSC assets stretched thin, post war casualties and of insulting every man, woman and child that died in the Human-Covenant war ever moment she was in office and he called her weak for cooperating with other star nations. He had a lot of xenophobia under his demeanor.

He gave Senator Brown a final glance. It was a video from a speech he held yesterday. He waved his fist in the air and barked 'we shall triumph' and the crowd joined in. he had been speaking about their Sangheili allies and their war crimes, claimed the government had forgotten and forgiven them. five years after the war, the massive fatalities was fresh in everyone's mind, including his. He'd never forget the dead, but he pushed it aside for his peoples future.

He put down the pad. And shifted his gaze from the Spartan washout to the ex-marine.

"I assume I'm not here to advise you on your political opponents madam president."

She smirked.

"No," she assured him and leaned forward. "I called you here to speak about further intervention in old Covenant space."

Hood arched an eyebrow.

"We have been assisting our Sangheili allies for five years, are you consider an escalation?"

He sucked in air and slowly breathed out through her nose.

"Not of that specifically," she answered. "But I have decided it is time for a type of escalation. It will be for a better future for our people. What you will do Terrence, is draw up a plan for it. This is a long-term operation and we will slowly expand our influence system by system by garrisoning planets, establishing stations and advancing our fleets. It won't be easy, but I am certain that when we push forward it will bring the Civil War to an end eventually and stabilize the region."

Hood shifted slightly in his seat and placed his hands on the desk.

"Of course you know former Covenant space is massive. It will be an enormous decades long effort. We're talking about something that will put a huge strain on our already strained economy and military," he stated. Though he knew she knew that already and her mind was made up.

"On another point you will be happy to hear that I have decided to accept your proposal," she explained with a smile on her face, her eyes searched his features for a response. He was sincerely grateful to hear it. "I will signed it today and it will go into effect within a few weeks, as soon as the right preparations have been made. The Spartan Program will be permanently separated from the Office of Naval Intelligence."

A smile, perhaps even a smug one, cracked through his wrinkled features. He would love to see Forsberg's face when he got the news. This would seriously hamper ONIs political influence and their overall power.

"I think that's a wise decision," he said in approval. It meant ONI couldn't use the Spartans in the dark without the UEG and UNSC knowing about it.

"The Spartans will hence forth operate as a relatively independent branch of the UNSC, under the office of the chairman of the Security Committee-" which was him. Her expression grew more hardened. He assumed she waited for his response to her next sentence. "-and the office of President."

The Presidential office already held great power over the military since the president was the Commander-in-Chief, but this little edition to his proposal meant that she-and any later presidents-would not need to bother to inform any branch of the UNSC. As Redfield waited for his reaction he held a neutral facial expression and didn't show his disapproval of her edition. While his position as chairman on the Security Committee gave him control over the Spartans she outranked him and it really was political talk that was supposed to look good for the average joe.

Hood nodded. "Separating them from ONI is the best for humanity's future." He would certainly keep an eye on this and ensure it was not abused, as far as he could do that.


	5. Dari'm Part 3

Gateway

Chapter 5 Dari'm Part 3

 **18** **th** **June 2558**

 **Free Jaffa Nation space, Planet Dari'm**

Spartan Ares let the rifle magazine empty its last rounds into the second to last shock trooper in the room. Half-collapsed walls surrounded the room and half the upper floor remained, giving the appearance of a semi-standing house. After the magazine ran dry Ares charged the final hostile at an impressive speed and slammed the MA5D into his helmet, which shattered the glass visor. A pained and surprised grunt escaped the terrorist's parted dark lips. Glass cut up much of his face and dug themselves into his flesh. Ares clenched his right fist, dropping the rifle two one hand and punched the man hard enough to force the man into the wall behind him and the punch crushed teeth and cracked the skull inside the broken helmet.

Swiftly he reloaded the assault rifle and glanced to the six bodies in the room of the ruined house. To his right two men jumped over the waist high wall and he reacted instantly. He drew his Magnum from its holster and put two rounds through the neck on the first and with a slight shift of the Magnum he put one round in his chest and two in his head. Both dropped within two seconds.

"That's eight," he counted out loud.

He made a sweep on his head and checked their status on his HUD. Marcus was with Alvin in the center of the street. Alvin downed a hostile with his Shotgun and Marcus, the team´ heavy weapons specialist, unloaded his SAW into a trio of hostiles ducking behind a waist high wall and an uncountable amount of bullets skidded the top of the wall and kept the men in cover as Alvin advanced at them and Ares estimated he would reach the trio in six seconds.

From their rear Hans remained in overwatch position. He saw a hostile with a light machinegun changing position get gunned down with a sniper round through his chest. It left him bleeding out on the dirty ground. Ares spent a second estimating that Hans was up to twelve or thirteen kills, but he hadn't kept count since he had his own part to focus on.

He ran to the waist high wall and ducked. Before he did he noted how a frag grenade from Kei sent half a dozen hostiles scurrying for safer ground. Two didn't make it.

Ares rose to his full height and leaped over the wall with his MA5D firing rounds at a Grenadier. Two bursts left him bleeding and grunting on the ground. He got to cover behind some rubble with four meters between them. After four seconds two hostiles sprinted to retrieve their fallen brother, or sister, though, the movements had suggested a man. A man with a Light machinegun provided cover.

"Kei," Ares said over his comms. "Gave you deal with the machinegunner at me two o'clock?"

" _Definitely_ ," she answered.

She rushed up out of her cover and unloaded her SMG into a soldier and moved to flank the hostiles ahead of Ares and quickly squeezed her trigger and forced the gunner to sprint for cover. It bought Ares the opportunity to lean out of his rubble cover and dropped both men as they reached their wounded buddy. He spared a bullet to finish the man he used as bait.

" _I'm switching position_ ," Hans informed him.

"Copy that."

" _I'm moving to your eight o'clock to get a better view_."

" _How many kills you scored_?" Alvin inquired, seemingly out of nowhere.

" _Twenty-two_." The answer was quick and short, and with it the conversation was over.

As Ares got behind cover he was joined by Marcus and Alvin. There was a nod of acknowledgement as they all leaned over the shoulder high cover to fire. Ares counted a dozen hostiles stood behind cover and provided a wall of fire.

On the flank of the square they approached Kei emptied her Caseless Submachinegun with a final burst that forced two troopers behind cover.

"I got two Vanguard troopers here, Ares," she told the rest as she reloaded the SMG.

" _Copy that_ ," Ares answered. " _That means this isn't a simple raid. They don't use their elite troops for those_."

Kei peeked over the cover she crouched behind. To her right-the others front-sat the two Vanguards and a wall mostly protected her from an assault from the front. Armed with her SMG and trusted M6H Magnum she gripped the SMG in her right hand and her Magnum left she momentarily left her cover and caught the Vanguards out of cover and fired a burst from the SMG and squeezed the Magnum´ trigger five times. A few of her rounds shredded the 'T' shaped visor helmets as some missed the visor and practically bounced off the helmets harmlessly.

She took a moment to breath as she returned to her cover. However, she didn't get a lot of time to breath as a figure in black armor with crimson stripes passed the wall covering her front and rushed her. The Spartan III leaped left and avoided the figure slamming into her. She rose to her feet and leveled the SMG at him, only to be surprised by the fast reflexes of the man as he almost slammed into her again. She squeezed the trigger and the rounds grazed the black armor as he swung a Gravity Hammer at her.

Kei was confused as to who she was fighting. He was fast and he was strong enough to wield a Jiralhanae Gravity Hammer. It wasn't something an average man could. She didn't spend more than a second pondering it before she fired another burst that, again, grazed his armor. She dropped the SMG and let it hang by the strap as she drew upon her combat knife and trusted Magnum. When he came at her again and slammed the hammer into the ground where she had just stood she closed the meter separating them and slashed the lighter armored junctions in the armor and she unloaded two rounds right into the abdomen and jumped back before he could strike, though, a low grunt erupted from behind his visor. He turned towards her again and she put two rounds into his chest armor before she ducked and stepped back as he swung at her.

She thought that he had to be augmented to keep up with her. No normal man could have kept up with her like this man could. She made a mental note that his armor was similar in design to her own Mjolnir Power Armor.

"I could use a hand here!" She alerted the others.

She leaped passed the large man and delivered a kick to his back and for him off balance for a moment. It was enough of bury the combat knife in his back with enough force to go through the armor. He recovered and swept around quickly and forced her to leave the knife and with a furious growl of anger and pain he slammed his hammer into the ruined wall and utterly destroyed it. What had been left of the wall collapsed.

" _I got your back_!" Ares responded.

" _Same_ ," Hans answered stoically.

A high velocity round ripped through the large man's left shoulder, which caused him to erupt in a loud cry of pain. In that moment emptied her Magnum into him and backed away as she reloaded. She had three seconds to breathe before the man sprang into action. He slammed his Gravity Hammer into the ground with enough force to send rubble flying a few meters in every direction. He dropped it and quickly lobbed a grenade in the direction of the other Spartans as he charged Kei. In response she maneuvered to his side and attempted to retrieve her knife so she could finish him by jabbing it into his visor. However, it seemed he predicted her action and landed a clenched fist against her side and pushed her back, and left her staggered for a few seconds.

Kei was ready to react to his second attack before she counterattacked when he surprised her by running for the Advent lines. A sniper round skidded his armor before he disappeared and Kei spotted Ares firing his assault rifle after the mysterious soldier. To meet a single human that could go head to head with a Spartan was rare to Kei and that man had gone toe-to-toe with her and she wasn't sure how long it would have gone on if she hadn't had backup.

"Are you alright?" Ares asked as he halted in front of her.

Kei took a breath of fresh air before she responded.

"I'm good. I landed more on him then he landed on me anyway. Who, or whatever, that was," she replied.

"I don't know, but we'll figure it out later."

Kei nodded, "Understood." She kept her focus on the moment. To push at the hostiles present between them and the SG personnel.

" _Fireteam Razgriz, this is Colonel Mitchell_ ," he heard over his comms. " _Do you read_?"

"This is Spartan-B009, colonel," Ares responded.

" _Hey, how's the party going? What did we miss_?" Mitchell asked.

Ares frowned. The colonel sounded too casual for his liking. He gave Kei a gesture to follow him to push on and they started jogging to keep up with the others. Marcus and Alvin had been pushing forward while he and Hans assisted in driving the mysterious soldier off.

"We are pressing on towards your peoples camp. I estimate we are a mere minute away," he explained. Then he remembered, "We have encountered a soldier on par with a Spartan. We don't know where he is presently."

" _Copy, thanks for the warning_ ," Mitchell appreciated.

" _Advent' withdrawing, sir_ ," Hans reported. "Looks like we scare them."

"Copy. Colonel Mitchell, Advent troops heading your way."

" _Alright, thanks for the heads up_."

As they caught up with the rest of their team Alvin and Marcus seemed to have finished up a dozen soldiers at their feet. Ares looked at the bodies and noted that the direction of their wounds meant not all had been killed by his team.

"Tents ahead," Alvin remarked.

"Colonel Gate, the enemy is attempting to withdraw," Ares informed the colonel over the comms. "We are securing the camp."

 **18** **th** **June 2020**

 **United Earth Space, Sol system, Planet Earth**

 **Cheyanne Mountain Complex aka Stargate Command**

"Who is it Walter?" O'Neill asked as he and O'Connor descended the stairs into the control room.

"Reading SG-18s IDC, sir," Walter answered.

"Well, let 'em in, will ya?"

"Opening iris," Walter proclaimed.

The iris opened and SG-18 was first through with the Sangheili archeologist and marines and SG teams that went with Mitchell. They were followed by SG-23 and several wounded was carried between them and lastly the Spartans stalked through the event horizon.

"Get a medical team down here," O'Neill ordered Walter. Then gave O'Connor' shoulder a pat and walked down to meet the teams with O'Connor followed slowly.

"Mitchell," O'Neill called as he entered the embarkation room. "Report."

Mitchell lowered his rifle, a Particle Rifle. It was reverse engineered from Ronon Dex' Particle Magnum.

"We lost two members of SG-4 died, seven marines injured and one of Cooper' men. Advent hit us hard at the Stargate when they tried to run," said Mitchell. He nodded to the Spartans. "Our Spartan buddies broke the bastards and they scrambled into us."

"We will debrief in two hours," O'Neill said and turned to Spartan Ares, "You have my thanks guys."

"We only did our job, sir," Ares responded plainly.

"All the same, good work B009," O'Connor added. "I'm glad we could help, Jack, and you have my sympathize for your fatalities."

O'Neill nodded and shook O'Connor' hand, "Thank you," he answered solemnly. He thought he noticed a look between the Spartan that just spoke and another.

It was Cooper that spoke up first, though. She had kneeled beside Flannigan as the medics arrived through the same door O'Neill had entered through.

"General," she said, giving O'Connor a nod as well. "We encountered who we think was an enemy commander. Big guy in armor that looks like, that." She pointed at the Spartans. This caused O'Neill to furrow his brown and look at the Spartans. O'Connor on the other hand had a deep frown on his face.

"A terrorist in Mjolnir armor? Are you sure about that?" He directed his question to the Spartans.

The only woman in the team spoke, "It was similar, but nearly as strong, sir. I can personally testify for that."

O'Neill felt a hint of an insult that he'd asked his people and not Cooper despite it being her bringing it up.

The medics had started taking the wounded to the base' infirmary and the marines and most none-officers had departed with a wave from Colonel Gate.

"What, you think my people can't see the difference between super soldier armor and casual Advent body armor?" He asked, though, he sounded more like it was a demand than a question.

"No offense meant," the admiral responded. "I knew my Spartans would have spotted details most people wouldn't. After they give a detailed report I'll have my ONI friend in the briefing room see if ONI knows anything."

The general was silent for a moment.

"Debrief for all in one hour. That works for you?"

O'Connor glanced to the Spartan in charge of the team and he gave a stiff nod.


	6. Primal Raid

Gateway

Chapter 6 Primal Raid

 **22** **nd** **June 2558**

 **United Earth Space, Sol system, Planet Earth**

 **Cheyanne Mountain Complex aka Stargate Command**

Cooper was joined in the cafeteria by Colonel Benjamin Gate. The dark skinned American sat down opposite her with a tray filled with food.

"You don't mind, do you?" he asked.

"No, of course not," Cooper answered. She would have gestured for him to sit down but he already had by the time he asked.

He cut into a potato, "How is Flannigan?" He glanced between her and the potato.

"He'll be alright. The injury wasn't too bad," she said.

"Good, Roark says he's a bit of a wuss," Gate said with a smirk.

Cooper smirked and chowed a piece of beef and part of a potato. She swallowed it with help of a glass of juice.

"Yep," she voiced her agreement.

Gate gave her a big smirk, "Man, it's good to have you back. I bet its strange though, for you that is."

"How's that?" Cooper inquired.

"You spent over a year home. It got to be a strange feeling coming back."

"A bit, but it also feels good being back."

"I know that feeling. So how's the family?"

"Nathaniel is doing great," Cooper said and smiled. "He was there for me every day when I was stuck in that darned wheelchair, months and months on end and April will soon have her fourth birthday and I plan on spending the weekend home, with the general' approval." She sighed, "Being stuck in a wheelchair for six months was…the hardest part."

He nodded solemnly.

 **24** **th** **June 2020**

 **UNSC space, classified system**

 **Infinity class Supercarrier** _ **Kakamigahara**_

Forsberg sipped from the wine glass as he sat behind his desk.

"I didn't expect President Redfield to take the Spartan Program away from us. Me! Unbelievable. It won't lose us access, though."

"How is that?" The bearded AI Oldman said.

"Well, despite this potential loss of control Commander Jayne Mendez is loyal," Forsberg explained.

"Are you sure she is loyal to you or ONI?" He crossed his arms over his holographic chest. He was dressed like a twentieth century naval captain with hat and all.

"She'd be a simple Drop trooper without ONI. Mendez has always been loyal to me." There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"If you say so," Oldman said in a deadpan voice. "Without Spartans under your direct control how will you carry out your black ops?"

"We have a special operations branch," Forsberg said and drank from the glass.

"But they aren't Spartans and you won't sent slightly above average soldiers to do a Spartans job," the blue man reasoned.

Forsberg rolled his eyes at the AI. Sometimes he mused why he had gotten such an arguable AI. Yet, he didn't like surrounding himself with ' _yes-men_ '. That would never do if he wanted to do a proper job as head of ONI. Everyone around him was loyal and obeyed, but they would voice disagreements and other options.

"I know, I know. I'll have to talk with my allies in the senate and military, might be I can pressure Redfield into giving him back command of the program. I was considering testing a fifth program, but that's impossible now."

"Ah, yes. Junior Director Ivanovna and Colonel Wadsworth' brainchild," the AI stated.

"I can't push it through without total control," the director supposed grimly.

"Some might say that's a good thing," Oldman suggested. "Commander Mendez didn't like the idea."

Forsberg finished his glass and quickly refilled it with more red wine.

"She didn't see the possibility. She's a Spartan, a gun, basically. Can you imagine a Spartan without empathy? A soldier without morality or remorse. A soldier that doesn't feel an inkling of emotional impact for his dead fellows. Not even Hood sees the clarity in my vision, and certainly not the president."

Oldman didn't say anything.

 **24** **th** **June 2020**

 **United Earth space, Colony of Casablanca**

 **Daedalus class Battlecruiser** _ **UES Daedalus**_

Colonel Steven Caldwell waited as they were beaming up the supplies they came up pick up from Casablanca. He had emptied out much of his missiles two days ago fighting two Lucian Alliance Ha'tak´ plus support vessels such as five Al'kesh and a dozen Death Gliders rearmed with old Covenant plasma torpedoes. It was a tough fight and most damages had been repaired by his excellent engineers.

"All supplies are almost on board, sir," Major Marks informed him.

"Understood," Caldwell answered stoically.

A minute or so went by.

"Sir, we're picking up hyperspace windows opening," Marks alerted.

"Who is it?" Caldwell promptly asked him.

"Covenant Signatures, sir." Caldwell pondered the chance of them being their Sangheili allies, however, Marks quickly shot that idea down. "The lead ship is the Assault Carrier _Pursuing Death_."

Caldwell straightened in his chair. He knew the name. It was the command ship of a Jiralhanae Alpha named Primikeus.

"Battle stations, alert the colony and raise shields," he ordered. "Tell Casablanca to scramble their F-302 pilots on the double."

"Yes, sir."

"How many hostiles Major?"

"Fifteen ships, ten of them Destroyers, a Heavy Cruiser, two Battlecruisers, a minor Carrier and the Assault Carrier," was the response.

"Lieutenant, put us between them and Casablanca," Caldwell ordered his navigator.

"Copy, sir."

The hostile Carriers launched a combined wave of Seraphs that swiftly approached _Daedalus_ as a swarm of hundreds Starfighters. Caldwell´ own pilots launched from the hangar and assuming defensive formation around _Daedalus_. Because they were horribly outnumbered they had to remain in range of the Battlecruiser. On Caldwell's order a nuke was beamed into the middle of the approaching swarm and the detonation turned an enormous amount into dust and left a hundred Seraph's on approach. _Daedalus´_ Railguns opened up and started firing, in short joined by the Missile tubes and even the Asgard Beam Weapons. The Seraphs fired numerous bolts of super-heated plasma. The newest batches of F-302´ was equipped with Shields and without them the pilots would have been massacred soon enough.

He saw the support and capital vessels approach them. The Destroyers had the lead.

"Casablanca is readying their F-302´, sir," Marks informed Caldwell. "There is an activate wormhole preventing them from dialing Earth, but they are sending a message through subspace to nearby ships."

Caldwell nodded. The Quick Response Force was nearby. It would take the four ships a few minutes to reach them, according to his estimation.

"We'll hold out until help arrives," he said stoically. "Set a course towards the incoming warships, if you please."

"Aye, sir," the lieutenant complied.

 _Daedalus_ swiftly changed course and headed towards the hostile force. Caldwell had no intention to waste all his resources on fighting the fighters, just in case reinforcements didn't arrive as quickly as he intended.

"When we're in range target the closest Destroyer and open fire," he ordered.

"Yes, sir, "Marks said and nodded. He focused intensely on his screen. "Five seconds to firing range."

Caldwell waiting patiently until the four Beam Weapons fired on the poor CPV class Destroyer. Even though it was equipped with Goa'uld shields they cut through and tore it in half. He mused that they had either taken the shield technology in a raid or traded to it from the Lucian Alliance or some other criminal enterprise.

The bridge shook slightly when the first plasma torpedoes struck their shields. At the same time the Seraph's were doing their best to eat away at it with the F-302s harassing them.

"Shields at eighty-six percent," Marks informed.

The beams hit their mark at a second Destroyer and this one possessed no shields. It was utterly destroyed on impact. The shock wave of the detonation of secondary explosions on board scratched the shields of two other Destroyers. The _UES Daedalus_ flew in amongst the formation and the Destroyers did their best to cut them off from the Assault Carrier. The first beam directed at a Destroyer with shielding didn't break through but the other three easily did and obliterated it.

The bridge shook as they took a hit from the CCS Battlecruiser.

"Try to beam a Naquadah enhanced warhead on board the flagship," Caldwell said.

After a moment Marks reported, "No success. Their countermeasures are interfering."

As they passed over the Heavy Cruiser a hail of beams impacted its shields and worked their way through to find the hull. At the same time over a dozen plasma torpedoes launched from the Cruiser impacted their shields before the ships was severely crippled and secondary explosions erupted from it. The shock wave from the Cruiser crippled the shields of a nearby Destroyer, which left _Daedalus_ ample time to finish it. plasma kept pounding the Daedalus shield unendingly.

"Six F-302s have been destroyed, sir," was reported to Caldwell.

"Twenty additional F-302s approaching colonel. They will arrive from planetside in two minutes," Marks reported.

"Understood Major," Caldwell acknowledged.

"Our shields at down to seventy percent," Marks added. "We are almost out of missiles."

Caldwell nodded subtly. The Seraphs was sucking up a lot of munitions. Thankfully the Beam Weapons was enough to deal with the capital ships. He couldn't keep this up forever though. But if he could destroy enough ships they might withdraw. After all these weren't fanatics, they were Jiralhanae raiders, hardly all willing to die for a small colony. He gripped the armrests of his command chair as the bridge shook once again.

"Take us within range of the…" the bridge shook again. "…of the CCS class Battlecruiser," the Colonel ordered.

"Copy that," the navigator confirmed.

He looked to Marks.

"Major, I want you to beam a Naquadah enhanced nuclear devise mere centimeters from their shields and set it to detonate two seconds after activation."

"Understood."

The Tau'ri Battlecruiser took evasive action away from three Destroyers and headed passed a Destroyer and the other Carrier on a course for the Battlecruiser. The Carrier was pretty close to the _Pursuing Death_ so that a Naquadah enhanced nuke would damage it too, and most likely destroy a Destroyer and dozens of fighters. Again, Daedalus shook as a beam from an Energy Projector struck hard against its shield. It was the most powerful weapon in the hostile fleet and shortly after the first hit the _Pursuing Death_ had charged up their counterpart and fired. The beam impacted the side of _Daedalus´_ shield.

"Ready," Marks reported, throwing a look at his CO.

"Do it," Caldwell ordered, his voice less stoic and with more strain.

A few seconds went by and there was a massive explosion off the port of the Battlecruiser. The shields took a serious pounding and failed, which left the ship to be ripped apart in the center. There was relief on the faces on the bridge for a second before they refocused their efforts. _Pursuing Death_ had taken damage as well, but their shields held and a Destroyer had been obliterated. The only remaining Battlecruiser fired their Energy Projector and dealt a serious blow.

"Shields are at fifty percent!" Marks immediately reported. A moment later he added. "The F-302s has arrived."

"Good. They can help deal with the Seraphs left." There was three dozen Seraphs remaining at present.

The hostile capital ships had begun turning to withdraw and the Destroyers attempted to cover their retreat. Caldwell had no doubt he'd lose if the battle continued in a slow grind but even that victory wasn't worth it for them. after those kinds of losses Primikeus couldn't see a value in a victory. It wasn't easy to replace that Battlecruiser.

A salvo disabled the shields and engines of the DDS Carrier and a final salvo destroyed it with all hands.

"Sir, picking up hyperspace windows," Marks alerted. "They're exiting five hundred kilometers behind us. It's the the _UES Sun Tzu_ , _Viking_ , _Odyssey_ and _Moscow's Pride_."

 _Pursuing Death_ was the first to escape into hyperspace, the other hostiles followed shortly after.

Caldwell sighed and leaned back against the back of his seat.

"Open a channel."

"Yes, sir."


End file.
